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The Pelican
History (Submitted by Herald) Disclaimer Take all this with a grain of salt as this file is being made with input from Larry Trainor, who may be suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness. The Pelican: 2001 Just six months out of flight school, Air Force Fighter Pilots Larry Trainor and Hal Jordan were tasked to provide escort for an experimental Ferris Aircraft shuttle being tested. In the course of the flight, there was some sort of interference caused by the shuttle's exhaust and while trying to correct his instruments, Larry became distracted and nearly flew into a flock of migrating pelicans. As he evaded the flock, Larry drifted into the radioactive exhaust of the shuttle. The entropic field ravaged Trainor's body, but he managed to land despite being blinded by his injuries with Jordan talking him through it. After landing, Trainor was admitted into a military hospital where he remained for several months. The Pelican: 2002 - 2005 According to Caulder and Dayton, Trainor began to report seeing pelicans, well one pelican if we're being specific, at strange moments. This was dismissed as PTSD-induced hallucinations stemming from pelicans being involved in his accident. Trainor was medicated but the sightings did not seem to decease in frequency. Trainor was convinced that what he was seeing was real and increasingly became convinced he was being stalked. The Pelican: 2005 - 2009 Trainor reported that the pelican sightings stopped after moving to Danny the Street, but he still possessed an irrational anxiety whenever he would encounter pelicans of any kind, even if they weren't the one he believed had been stalking him. Trainor founded a "Pelican Control" office on Danny the Street and though he was eventually forced to adopt a non-lethal means of capturing the birds, Trainor always carried a well-stocked arsenal with him while working in this capacity, convinced that if the bird that had stalked him returned, he would have to be ready to act to "save everyone's life". The Pelican: 2009 - Present Trainor had a five year period of elation after he killed a brown pelican he found perched on the top of Peeping Tom's Perpetual Cabaret. He spent few nights in Danny the Jail for his discharging of a firearm and disturbing the peace (he danced up and down Danny's thoroughfare for close to an hour swinging around a feathered carcass) but he considered it worth it. He demanded that Mayor Karupt give him a medal but was denied. Relapsing in 2014, Trainor began to report seeing the pelican again. At first, Trainor seemed convinced the bird returned from the dead to haunt him but now he seems convinced he killed the wrong pelican. Larry dusted off his Pelican Control office and even hired receptionist and assistant pelican hunter, Buddy MacCulloch, to help him prepare. Now, here is where I sound crazy, too... I'm pretty sure I saw a pelican stalking Trainor from the rooftops recently. When I called out to Larry, I swear I saw the bird glare at me before flying off. Those eyes... I didn't sleep for a week. Oh no, am I Ornithophobic now, too?Network Files: The Pelican Supplemental Reports * (Submitted by Gear) The relationship between pelicans and people can be rather contentious, despite a long history of mythological and cultural significance. Their populations have fallen through habitat destruction, disturbance, and environmental pollution, and three species are of conservation concern. Sorry, I wrote a report on them in the ninth grade and couldn't resist. Threat Assessment Resources * Pelican Physiology: Pelicans are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before swallowing. Pelicans are closely related to the shoebill and hamerkop, and are placed in the order Pelecaniformes. Fossil evidence of pelicans dates back at least 30 million years. ** Size: Though brown pelicans are the smallest of the pelicans, they are still very large birds. They have long neck and short stout legs with large, fully webbed feet. Although they are among the heaviest of the flying birds, they are relatively light for their apparent bulk because of air pockets in the skeleton and beneath the skin. This enables them to float high in the water. ** Beak: Pelicans have very long bills characterized by a down curved hook at the end of the upper mandible, and the attachment of a huge jugular pouch to the lower. The slender rami of the lower bill and the flexible tongue muscles form the pouch into a basket for catching fish, and sometimes rainwater. Not to hinder the swallowing of a large fish, the Pelican's tongue itself is quite small. ** Water Fowl: Pelicans frequent inland and coastal waters, where they feed principally on fish, catching them at or near the water surface. They are gregarious birds, travelling in flocks, hunting cooperatively, and breeding colonially. Brown Pelicans nest mainly in trees. ** Wings: The wings of a pelican are long and broad, suitably shaped for soaring and gliding flight, and have the unusually large number of 30 to 35 secondary flight feathers. Pelican can fly at speeds of 20 to 40 MPH (32 to 64 kph), depending on wind speeds and weather conditions. Trivia and Notes Notes * The idea that Larry is right and the Pelican is actually the true Big Bad in the universe has become one of Earth-27's many Running Gags. Links and References * Appearances of The Pelican * Character Gallery: The Pelican Category:Characters Category:Villains Category:Animal Category:Flight Category:Wings Category:Black Hair Category:Black Eyes Category:White Hair Category:Grey Hair Category:Identity Unknown Category:Submitted by Herald Category:Male Characters